The poorer sister of India’s armed forces, the central police organsiations like BSF, CRPF, ITBP, SSB, CISF are just as hard-pressed and neglected. While they are increasingly being deployed to contain terrorist activities, often they find themselves lacking autonomy (as enjoyed by the army). Essentially, it has been the CRPF that has been paying the price with an average of 1,000 of its personnel losing lives every year in the fight against Naxalites and terrorists. Yet, the government has not been kind enough to give them the right kind of comfort to be battle-ready. In the end, fragging and suicides are adding to the already high casualties. While the government has been trying to hide its failure to contain militancy with an increase in the number of battalions for ITBP, SSB and CRPF in addition to a plethora of India Reserve Battalions, the needs of the hour are a vibrant intelligence gathering mechanism, and of course, higher salary. It is an irony that even when the extent of risk for a paramilitary personnel is in no way less than that of an army personnel, when it comes to compensation, it is still much less. At a time when terrorism is bent on destroying India’s social fabric, the ones who guard us often go unnoticed. Well, not every mob battle is a Kargil, eh!